TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Sophomore right fielder Mason Katz went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs while left fielder Trey Watkins tied a career high with three hits to pace a 14-hit LSU attack as the Tiger baseball team won its sixth straight game and took the series opener from Alabama by a score of 10-6 on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

LSU (30-18, 8-14 SEC) scored in each of the first five innings to build a 10-1 advantage on the Crimson Tide, who dropped to 28-20 overall and 10-12 in conference play.

"I told the guys after the game, through the first five innings and (Raph) Rhymes at-bat to leadoff the top of the sixth inning, these were several of our best at-bats of the year," said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. "Not only did we hit the ball hard, we had a great approach at the plate. We had good situational hitting, clutch hitting and two-out hitting - all of those things that you preach."

The Tigers will send freshman right-hander Kevin Gausman (3-5, 4.36 ERA) to the mound in Game 2 in hopes of securing the series victory at 3 p.m. CT Saturday. He will be opposed by junior lefty Adam Morgan (4-4, 4.30 ERA). The contest will be broadcast on CSS and carried by Cox 4 in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette.

Freshman right-hander Kurt McCune (6-3) turned in another quality outing on Friday night, scattering 10 hits and allowed five runs - four earned - in seven innings to pick up the win. McCune struck out five and did not walk a batter before exiting in the eighth.

Watkins and Katz, LSU's first and second batters, combined to go 6-for-10 with five RBI and four runs scored. Freshman JaCoby Jones went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and first baseman Grant Dozar added two hits and a pair of runs.

LSU increased a 1-0 lead to 4-0 in the third when Katz drove a two-run double to the wall and Raph Rhymes ripped a two-out RBI single to left. Dozar later lined a double down the right field line and came across to score of Ty Ross' groundout.

The Tigers struck again in the fourth to make it 5-0. Watkins accounted for his first triple of the season and touched home on a Katz single. The duo did it again in the fifth as LSU sent eight men to the plate in a four-run frame. Tyler Hanover, Dozar and Jones all accounted for singles and Watkins laced his third hit of the game into centerfield. After Katz' sacrifice fly, McCune had a 10-1 lead to work with.

Alabama made it interesting in the eighth when it cut the deficit to 10-5 after McCune was greeted with four straight hits to the start the inning. Jared Reaves and Patrick McGavin each had RBI singles while a wild throw from Hanover on a relay sailed to the backstop to allow another run.

McCune gave way to reliever Kevin Berry who fired the final two innings, allowing a run on two hits to preserve the win.